OfTwoEvils/Cast
This story is barely more than a seed. IT NEEDS MORE CHARACTERS!!! Bring them on, please! Let's populate this little theme with some real great people, people!
Major Characters
Blood Eyes Akaria: Blood Eyes Akaria is tall and tragically beautiful, lithe and athletic, with fine-boned features and the red, star-flecked eyes of a Chosen of Battles. Akaria has brown hair, which she wears tied up in a severe bun. Akaria usually wears simple, finaly made clothing, usually in reds and blacks, in the style of Lookshy. Sometimes, Akaria's left eye flashes with disturbing geen light, usually at moments when she is weary and even closer to abandoning hope altogether.
Blood Eyes Akaria is an intensely honorable woman. Her word is as strong as her will; only if her will were completely broken would she forswear herself. Akaria does not suffer fools or tolerate weakness, in others or especially in herself. The paradox of Akaria is that she feels an intense need to protect those who cannot protect themselves, even as she scorns them for their weakness. Blood Eyes Akaria sees the world as a series of challenges that must be overcome, tests, directed at her, personally. Some must be defeated by force of arms, some by mental acuity, but in the end, only the strong will survive, and Akaria will be strong.
Blood Eyes Akaria is a skilled martial artist. Her talents lie in personal combat, directing troops, and smithing blades. She can even work with rare and tempermental materials, like starmetal. Few things frighten Akaria, but many things can paralyze her. Her doubt, her nagging suspicions of her own weakness and wrongness, can make it difficult for her to act. Blood Eyes Akaria wears a pair of manacles forged of Soulsteel that act as hearthstone bracers, currently empty, as Akaria is attuned to no manses and carries a sword called Final Reckoning, forged of dark Malfean steel and alloyed with starmetal.
Blood Eyes Akaria, originally Steel Eyes Akaria, was born in Lookshy, the daughter of citizens. She worked for years at swordsmanship, blacksmithing, archery, and tactics, hoping to earn the Terrestrial exaltation. The fate Heaven had in store for her was far grander, and one night as she stood on the roof of her family's home, practicing with her sword, the Sidereal exaltation came upon her, firing the night with red. She was taken under the wing of the Bronze faction and quickly became one of their more effective operatives. Perhaps it was because of her early promise that she went astray, perhaps her mentors should have kept her in training for a little longer. In an attempt to prevent undead from taking possession of critical manses in the north, Steel Eyes Akaria was captured by the Abyssals and dragged in soulsteel chains before their master. The ancient ghost tied her atop a tower in the Underworld, gaurded by Blood Apes, and taunted her to read the stars she saw. To her horror, Blood Eyes Akaria saw the death of the world, the destruction of the Malfeans, the victory of death and decay over life and honor and everything else Akaria held sacred. Steel Eyes Akaria was on the verge of giving up and going willingly into death, when one of the Blood Apes spoke to her. Its clumsy lips distorted its voice, but the words were unmistakeable: "Stand fast. Help is coming."
Help did come, but not the help Steel Eyes Akaria expected. Demons from Malfeas came through a shining rift in the fabric of the Underworld and 'rescued' Akaria, taking her before their master Ligier. There, Akaria was told that what she had seen in the Underworld was true, the world was doomed, unless something outside of fate stepped in. The Fair Folk were to chaotic, they would simply unmake the world, but the Yozis would craft the world anew. It would be changed, but it would go on. Although Steel Eyes Akaria has not yet become Akuma, she now willingly serves Ligier and his siblings, taking the name Blood Eyes to hide her fate from her fellow Sidereals. Change is better than death. Each time her eye flashes green, she comes closer to giving in to despair. One day, she will kneel before Ligier and allow him to remake her after his wishes. Then, she will have fallen for good.
Saraf Makura: Physically, Saraf Makura is no great beauty, though he is certainly very striking. Saraf is a tall man with a moderate build and long brown hair tied back in a ponyale. Saraf is surprisingly fast for his build, a fact he takes shameless advantage of. He always wears fine silk clothing with a martial artist's wrappings around his forearms. One of Saraf's eyes is a scarred-over pit, usually covered by a black silk eyepatch, though he has also been known to affect a rakishly tilted black hat. His remaining eye is a merry, shining blue, filled with the flecks of a Sidereal chosen by Venus.
Saraf is a friendly, compassionate man. He loves nothing in the world more than people, and making them happy. Saraf does have something of the Sidereal detatchment from individuals; he understands that sometimes to make many people happy, one small individual man might be made unhappy, for a time, or forever, or even killed. Fortunately, Saraf's calling usually precludes this kind of manipulation. Saraf Makura is a demon-hunter. After all, few things make people more unhappy than dying before their time, and few things in Creation are better at making people die before their time than demons. Saraf also tries his best to be stylish and cosmopolitan, especially when he fights. After all, the only way the demons are going to be defeated once and for all is if they are beaten again and again by exalts who make it look easy, even fun. How else are they going to learn that they should stay in Malfeas and quit trying?
Saraf is a talented martial artist for a relatively young Sidereal. His former skills as a quartermaster make him an excellent cook, even with limited supplies and equipment. Saraf manages to be compassionate without becoming paralyzed by doubt and brave without acting foolishly. In short, Saraf is just the man you want to by supplies for your party, plan the seating arrangements, organize the security, and be in charge when everything goes to hell anyway. Saraf wears silken armor in battle, and carries no other artifacts of importance.
Saraf was born in Two Hawk Hill, a tiny fishing village at the edge of the Scavenger Lands. He decided early on that life as a fisherman was not for him, so he signed on to one of Nexus's mercenary companies as an apprentice quartermaster. He was good at it and rose quickly in the ranks. Saraf's exaltation came at the fateful moment when a Celestial oversight allowed a demon into his fort. One eye destroyed by a Firmin's needle, Saraf choose to get up and fight, instead of lying on the floor bleeding. The exaltation came on him as he ran about the kitchen, pelting the demons with pots and pans and even a frozen leg of lamb, long enough for Kamak, who had been posing as a soldier, to send the demons back to Malfeas.
Less Major Characters
Kamak: Kamak is Saraf Makura's sifu. He is Chosen of Endings, and like most of his siblings, an enigmatic figure shrouded in mystery and filled with contradictions. Kamak is a member of the Bronze faction who willingly mentors a young member of the Bronze Faction. Kamak hunts demons, but is also a sorcerer who will summon them into Creation, if need be. Kamak affects a demeanor of blunt honesty and guilelessness, but this is clearly not so. Like all elder Sidereals, Kamak knows far more than he lets on, and certainly has plans far beyond what he will readily admit.
